From vaccines to climate change, skeptics ask: why does some intellectual elite get to tell us what to think? We can best understand the frustrating dilemma of scientific authority by looking back to a time when modern science emerged alongside modern views on political authority.
When we disagree, we should try to work out the truth. For that we have debate. But the meaning of debate is also debatable, and this lecture arranges just such a clash of minds across time and space, between the 19th century English philosopher John Stuart Mill and the classical Buddhist scholar Nāgārjuna.
Corey Robin is a Professor of Political Science at CUNY Brooklyn College and author of books such as The Reactionary Mind: Conservatism from Edmund Burke to Donald Trump and Fear: The History of a Political Idea. Robin will be discussing his new research which evaluates contemporary politics through an analysis of capitalism and American democracy.
Hahrie Han is the Inaugural Director of the SNF Agora Institute at Johns Hopkins University and the faculty director of the P3 (“Possible, Probable, and Powerful”) Research Lab. Han’s lecture, “Revitalizing Democracy,” will draw on her pathbreaking research on social movements and collective action. Her book will be available for purchase following the lecture.
The Ninth Annual James M. May Lecture in Classics will be delivered by His Grace the Right Reverend Irenei (Matthew Steenberg ’01), Bishop of London and Western Europe in the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia (ROCOR), on Thursday, November 13, 2025, at 7:00 p.m. in Viking Theater. The lecture, entitled "‘Cicero Speaks Norwegian’: Reconsidering […]
The St. Olaf Community is welcome to join us as we honor our Social Justice Award recipient in Viking Theater on April 9 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This award recognizes the hard work of faculty members in bringing needed change to the College and demonstrates St. Olaf’s commitment to developing a more inclusive […]